BOY'S BALLOON SEARCH FOR LOVE GOES BUST

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 14, 1992                   TAG: 9202140155
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SNOW CREEK                                LENGTH: Short
BOY'S BALLOON SEARCH FOR LOVE GOES BUST
An 80-year-old Franklin County farmer who received a romantic plea from an 11-year-old Ohio boy said he would love to play Cupid.
The problem, however, is that the farmer's youngest granddaughter recently turned 26.
"If I would have had someone that young in the family, I would have let them do the writing," Lewis Bousman said.
Bousman was walking through the woods on his land last month when he found three helium-filled balloons carrying a love note.
"My name is John Goetz. Please write back! If you are a girl and you live near me, then how about a date?" the note said.
John, a sixth-grader from Dayton, Ohio, was amazed that the balloons had traveled so far. "I thought it would still be in Ohio before it popped and dropped," he said.
John said he sent the message aloft on Dec. 26. Bousman found it 10 days later.
The youngster sounded sheepish when asked about the dating thing.
"My friend wrote that," he said. "He was just fooling around."
John still hasn't found a girlfriend. But he has many a Valentine's Day ahead of him.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB